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The root of this blog is older than money. How do I find someone to sell to? How do I find someone to buy from?

The modern world and the technology explosion of the past few decades has given us more ways to promote ourselves and our products than ever before – ironically making it harder than ever to get the message out there.

So in an increasingly noisy world, here is a whisper of advice on finding trade partners.

Use Existing Customers.

Your current customers are crucial. Not only as today’s source of revenue, but also in supplying you with information on who and where your next customer is.

Your current and future partner fit the same profile. They both need your product and they are both ready to pay for it. Thinking about the former, will lead you to the latter. Asking for advice from your customers will generate more.

For example, in the course of most deals you make there will be a moment when it is possible to ask your client for feedback on the service and product you have provided, and this can simply and professionally be done by sending them a survey or questionnaire to complete.

Whilst the primary aim of the survey is to improve your company, it can also include the key question: “Would you refer our company to others?” If the answer is yes, ask to be referred then and there! And if the answer is no, then you have a good opportunity to find out why and fix things.

Leaving space on the survey for contact details of potential clients is an easy way to open doors, by sharing a mutual partner.

As Bill Gates once said, “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” But he could easily have included happy customers too.

Existing customers can also be a good source of testimonials. Any time someone mentions how good your product or service is, just ask them to put it in writing. Most people won’t mind doing this, as it only takes a minute or so to do.

Testimonials like this can then either be used on your website or other promotional material, and can be an effective tool in putting yourself ahead of the competition.

Team Up

Working together with another business to mutually promote yourselves is now so popular that it has a name. It is known as a ‘host-beneficiary’ arrangement. In this arrangement, another firm with the same target customer offers to use their database and resources to promote your business. You of course offer to do the same for them, or maybe offer something in return for each new customer.

Good examples of how this can work include potential co-operation between a high-end hair salon and a high-end car dealership or a lawyer and an accountant.

Co-operating with other companies is a fantastic way to increase your exposure, and can even be taken a step further to form what’s known as a “strategic alliance.” While a host-beneficiary relationship is usually a short-term commitment, strategic alliances can last for years.

Rebecca Larson, assistant Professor of Business at Liberty University, recalls how Starbucks went into an alliance with Barnes and Nobles bookstores in 1993, providing coffee shops in a number of their stores, benefiting both retailers.

Similarly, every new smartphone or tablet bought today comes with a number of pre-installed apps or products. Whilst some of these maybe generically made by the phone manufacturer, you will find an increasing number of them have been installed by ‘strategic partners’ hoping that you will start use their services once you see them available on your new phone.

What’s good for Samsung and Apple, may well be good for you.

Advertising.

The key to successful advertising is in generating promising leads in exchange for the money you spend. However, it can be all to easy to start major campaigns with unrealistic targets of return, and therefore unrealistic advertising budgets.

One good tip is to start off small and build your campaign budget slowly, learning and refining your message as you go. This also allows you to factor in the value of the campaign itself to your bottom line.

For example, spending a modest sum on internet banner ads, will allow you to observe the number of clicks you receive for each advert. In turn you can calculate the number of paying customers you receive per click. As you know how much profit you make from your average customer, you can ultimately put a value on each banner advert.

If your banner ads are seen by 200,000 people, and 2,000 of those are clicked, and of those 2,000 you generate 100 customers from which your average profit is $100 then the value to you of the banner ads is $10,000 in profit.

This information will be priceless when deciding whether to expand or stop your campaign.

Networking.

Whilst networking in the ‘old school’ manner of conferences and past business associations can be a time consuming, and therefore not particularly cheap, method of finding trading partners, the contacts it does find often have the highest value.

Nothing generates business better than person to person engagement, where trust can be founded on mutual understandings and sales pitches can be aimed for direct needs, not the mass message of advertising.

This makes any congress, conference or meeting of minds such as the highly successful ChemSpec events (http://www.chemspecevents.com/) a useful tool in promotion.

Of course today, even networking has gone hi-tech, so it almost goes without saying that it is necessary to have a professional looking and active LinkedIn, facebook and Google plus account. Whilst these access points may not be the main route to new business, they act as an easily searchable reference point for prospective clients.

Databases.

Much like using the Yellow Pages to find a product or service, there are a number of industry specific registries where you can, for a price, either list your company or, for a greater price, promote your company.

These directories, such as The World Chemical Distributor Directory have been a good investment of money in the past, and have become easier to use and more up-to-date in online versions. They do however, still require a dealer to make contact with each business listed to find a suitable partner.

To avoid this, many companies are increasingly using services such as http://spotchemi.eu/ to generate a more specific search. At this website, chemicals can be offered for sale on an online marketplace, or similarly, products can be requested for purchase. Only registered users can make offers or requests, and each of them has been verified as bone fide by trusted credit control agencies. So trading can be done securely, and you can find, sell and buy any product at one simple location.

Many Streams.

Ultimately, there is no one single method that will help you to find new business. Instead, it is by using mulitiple approaches, such as those listed on this page that will drive your business forward.

Finding clients is a bit of a paradox. They are everywhere, but you have to look in order to see them. Using a variety of methods, from marketing to networking to online trading, will ensure that you and your next business partner will find each other in the crowd.

Since the early 1990’s politicians and economists have been talking about making trade between the US and the EU simpler. Almost three decades later, and we are close to a deal being signed that will remove many trade tariffs and set common standards on a whole range of products and services, including cosmetics, fertilizers and chemicals. This deal is called the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TTIP.

The financial argument for signing the treaty is clear, as numerous economists outline the advantages of free trade and the benefits it will bring to the economies of the EU, US and even the rest of the world.

A recent study by the Centre for Economic Policy Research predicts that an effective TTIP deal could increase the size of the EU economy by as much as €120 billion (or 0.5% of GDP) and the US by €95 billion (or 0.4% of GDP). Whilst the EU chemicals’ industry could increase exports to the US by up to 9%.

But whilst the claim of multilateral growth by treaty supporters can be heard, there are also those who fear the deal would lead to an increase in corporate power and that it will be difficult for future governments to regulate markets or products, possibly against the public good.

Certainly there is a case for deregulating and simplifying trade between the two economies.  Anyone who has tried to do intercontinental business knows only too well the amount of paperwork required, and the cost of import duties and fees. Even simple products such as canned apricots currently face an import tax of up to 30% when being shipped from the EU to the US.

Furthermore, the Economist magazine of Feb 2013 states that “A single TTIP test for new drugs would be a massive boon for pharmaceutical firms.” and by consequence to the industry as a whole.

So why would anyone be worried about simplifying the trade in chemicals? Surely that is just good business sense.

One of the biggest problems is the difference between the US and EU chemical industries in the amount of legislation put in place to protect consumers. For a number of years, the EU has been enforcing tighter controls on the use of chemicals, that have left many wondering just how weak US laws are in comparison.

According to Baskut Tuncak, the Chemicals Program Attorney for the Center for International Environmental Law, US laws are very weak. He states that, ” Only eleven ingredients are restricted from cosmetics in the US, versus over 1300 in the EU.  Under a law dating back to 1976, US regulators have only been able to restrict the use of merely five of over 60,000 industrial chemicals that were presumed safe when the law was adopted, including asbestos.  Under this law, and despite over a century of substantial evidence of serious adverse effects, US regulators were unable demonstrate sufficient “risk” to justify a ban on the use of asbestos, unlike EU counterparts.”

These are fears that Klaus Berend, head of the REACH unit at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry has actively tried to calm.

REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) is an EU authority set up to help simplify current EU law with a uniform system, a sign of Brussels intention to make business easier.

Whilst Berend has acknowledged the differences in the regulatory systems of the EU and US, he insists that an agreement on chemicals should not affect either side’s ability to regulate as they see fit. So whilst the trade agreement will be enforced, EU and US governments will maintain authority to set laws. As he says, there will be “no watering down of existing EU measures”.

Certainly there are already ways in which the EU and US work together for mutual benefits in chemical trading and technology. These include:

• The selection of priority chemicals and the coordination on methods to assess their safety.
• The stated aim to agree on a common set of classifications for chemicals. Currently controlled by CLP (classification, labelling and packaging of chemicals in the EU) and GHS (Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals).
• A framework for common discussion and understanding on new and emerging issues. For example is setting pharmaceutical dosages or the development of nanomaterials.
• A shared openness on scientific reports and the greater sharing of information.

Berend also highlights the problems of harmonising EU and US law caused by the diversity of individual state legislation in the US.

Whatever the challenges that are involved in modernising trading practices, the politicians belief in getting a deal done is clear. Lena Perenius from Cefic (the European Chemical Industry Council) has already stressed the EU industry’s support of TTIP and highlighted the importance of a co-operation between regulators at an early stage, particularly for science-based issues (e.g. creating a joint scientific committee). Whilst President Obama has cemented his determination to sign the deal before his term of office ends in 2016, by calling the TTIP a ‘powerful demonstration of our determination to shape a free, open and rules-based world.’

But these rules need to be made clear, soon. At present, no one can be certain what TTIP will mean to the chemicals industry, mostly due to the fact that negotiations are ongoing, and those negotiations are largely behind closed doors.

One point that is clear about the deal is that whatever shape it takes it will mean a more streamlined process of trading and greater competition, making it harder for the least efficient companies to compete. Indeed the whole process will be tougher for any of the sectors that bear the brunt of the adjustment process.

What exactly those processes are is not yet fully understood, but will be reported on in this blog as soon as the details are known.

For years uncertainty over the future price of oil has given petrochemical producers a major headache. Prices have not been stable for almost a decade making predictions for rates of return on investment almost impossible. But to make matters worse, the price fluctuations are now beginning to affect the Chemicals‘ industry.

Since the summer, oil prices have been falling, from over $100 a barrel to a less than $70 today (December 2014 prices). This is due to oversupply in the global market. Everyday, the world uses 93.2 billion barrels of oil, but the world is currently pumping out 93.9 billion barrels.

This oversupply is a result of OPEC’s (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) refusal to cut production. Whilst analysts are not certain why this is happening, one theory is that Saudia Arabia is hoping to force higher-cost players, such as North America and Northern Europe, out of the market.